Darkness in Light
by Ketakoshka Kathleen Castlionia
Summary: Long after the death of his lover, Harry tells a story to his children about their father.


**Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter**

**Warnings: nothing really... other than the obvious male x male relationship**

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**It's about time I get back to Harry Potter... I haven't touched it in so long.**

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Darkness in Light

**_Here I am and I wanna come out_**

******_Null to the bone, I don't wanna come out_**

******_I've been dead and I wanna come out_**

******_Call my name cause I wanna come out_**

******_I'll hide out in your space_**

******_Emptiness on my face_**

******_I'll be keeping you safe_**

******_When you're cold and alone_**

******_Until you come out and play_**

**_-Afraid (Sarah Fimm)_**

"Papa?"

A younger man with avada kadavra green eyes turns to look at his children, and he smiles before lifting Viridius and Harrison into his arms. "What's wrong?"

"We want a story."

"A story?" Harry feigns innocence, even though he knows what his children want, and asks, "what kind?"

"A story about Daddy," the youngest of the triplets, Lilyann murmurs.

The black haired man sighs and gathers her up too before taking them to his room, the one where he'd slept beside their father. He sits them down on the bed before tucking them in and taking the floor for himself. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes," Harrison grumbles. "You never tell us anything about father."

'That's because there's not a lot of good things to say...' He doesn't say this a loud, instead whispering a breathy, "alright... I have to warn you though, it's not a pretty story."

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_He remembers waking up one night in the dark of the Forbidden Forest, and while he can't remember how he got to this place, he feels safe, even when a dark shape drifts into the clearing he woke up in. "Who are you?" he whispered, his voice hollow and unsure. "What do you want?"_

_"__Just to talk, Harry Potter…"_

_Harry realized then who it was, and as the man suddenly appeared in front of him, he figured out this was a dream. "Lord Voldemort…"_

_The man smirked and sat beside the brunette. "I'm guessing you know that this isn't real…"_

_"__I do."_

_"__It could be, you know."_

_The emerald-eyed boy is caught off guard, making him stare at the violent man before him as if he could reach out to hurt him. "What do you mean?"_

_"__I mean that we could just sit and talk like this in real life… If you'd just join me… You'd have a family, and I wouldn't even hurt that wolf that you care so much about. You'll never have to go back to those muggles… And I know that I've said this before…" As he pauses, Harry stops to think, realizing that while he hasn't remembered them in his waking times, he and Voldemort have talked before about this very same thing. "But you could come with me, and they'd never hurt you again."_

_"__You know I can't do that…"_

_"__But I don't want to leave you there."_

_"__You'll have to."_

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_Almost a month of these dreams later, the Hogsmeade visits begin, and on the second, Harry's taken from his friends by the very same man who should have been his enemy. He doesn't struggle, choosing to go limp in his arms, and even about three months later when he's shown to the rest of the world as the Dark Lord's Pet, he doesn't protest, because he loves the man who'd dared show him an ounce of compassion._

_Still, the dark lost to the light, and Harry was taken back to the light side where he was forced to play innocence and abused beauty, while the rest of Wizarding Britain partied. They had thought that they'd gotten rid of the Dark Lord, but they were sadly mistaken. Only Harry knew the truth…_

_He knew that the man that he'd regrettably fallen from care to lust to love with was still alive, for he was still around to accost him in the dark of night. And when he'd wound up pregnant with his lovely triplets, the rest of the world knew as well…_

_He was forced to watch from the 'safest' place as the world dissolved into chaos again with only the stone from Tom's family ring around his neck to remind him of his lover. And then came the battle that killed the light's leader and mortally wounded his beloved…_

_Before he died, he left a wand to his love, one that he'd pulled off of Dumbledore in their fight… The elder wand was Harry's, and with it came one giant privilege as his collection was completed… Tom never had to leave him completely, and he vowed that one day he'd find a way to bring the father of his children back from the dead…_

"Daddy kidnapped you?"

Harry nods to Viridius. "Yes, but I really didn't mind." He looks up at the ceiling and sighs, unconsciously fingering the necklace around his throat. "It was for the best… and you three should be going to bed…"

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That night as he lies alone in his bedroom, a cool breeze blows though him, and he shivers just slight, eyes opening to find a familiar ghost standing off to the side of the bed. "Hello, Tom… Have you come to see me?"

"Only when you need me," the man replies and sits on the corner of the bed. "Or when I need you."

"Do you need me?"

"Always." They lie together in silence for hours, just content before the man slips away with dawn and leaves the Master of Death alone with his useless immortality.


End file.
